A sequel to 7: Harry Potter and the final year
by frogfrog
Summary: What happens when all of harry's year goes back to school to make up for there lost education? Please review, it's my first one!
1. Chapter 1: At the Weaslys

Harry Potter Eight

_Extract from 'the final year: Harry Potter's last days at Hogwarts' by Tilda Matthews._

_Of Course, Harry Potter is world famous. His life is packed full of adventure and interest. But there still isn't a solid account of what happened straight after the vanquishing of the Dark Lord in what should have been his Seventh Year. Harry is famously media shy and I couldn't obtain an interview with him. There are very few facts. We know Harry decided to get his NEWT degree before pursuing a career. But Hogwarts was damaged and without a headmaster. The wizarding world was still reeling from the Dark Lord's reign of terror. Obviously the school wanted to get running as fast as possible after the fall of the Dark Lord and came up with a way to do that…_

_The Summer Holidays a few months after the fall of Voldemort._

"I can't believe it!" shouted Ron, spraying toast over his plate. He was holding a letter from the ministry.

"What is it? Did we get the Job?" said Harry, trying to peer at the letter in Ron's hands. Harry never left the Weasly's house now he no longer lived with the Dursley's.

"Listen," said Ron, "We regret to inform you that we cannot give you a place in the Auror Squad as you do not have the necessary qualifications. We expect five outstanding NEWTs blah blah blah. They can't do this! We defeated Voldemort! Surely that counts for something?"

"I've told you time and time again Ron," said Mr Weasly, bemused,"You're not going to get in to the Auror squad without some proper qualifications. They have to obey the rules, or anyone could get in."

"Come on, Ron. We don't even have to do 25% of the DADA course because you have to do practical work in a real life situation. I think we already got a couple of 'outstandings' last year!" said Harry.

He was disappointed, but he would see Ginny the whole year, and Hogwarts still felt like his true home.

"And you know the worst part," said Ron, refusing to cheer up, "We have to help rebuild the school!"

"Just like everyone else going to Hogwarts." tutted Mrs Weasly. "Honestly Ron, If you think you're going to get out of doing you're doing your NEWTs, you're deluded."

Grumbling, Ron got up. "Want to play chess Harry, or some Quiddich?"

Harry went slightly red.

"I, er, thought I might just spend the whole day with Ginny, if that's okay with you?"

"Oh. Sure. Yeah. That's fine." said Ron, failing to sound indifferent.

"Why don't you go and see Hermione, Ron?" said Mrs Weasly. "Since after the fall, you two haven't really seen much of each other."

Ron looked unhappy.

"Can't. Her parents took her on a big holiday all around Europe. She's in Romania or something."

Well, why don't we resume the discussions then?" said Mr Weasly, rubbing his hands, "What are we going to do with the ministry reward?"

"One thousand galleons!" said Ron, as though he still couldn't quite believe it. Chuckling, Harry slipped away.

And so the first few weeks of the holiday slipped by. Every time Harry started having fun he thought of Fred, Lupin or Tonks, or of poor Colin Creevy. He craved something to do, to take his mind off things. And it arrived: they were due to go and help in the rebuilding of Hogwarts.

"It'll be weird going to Hogwarts with no robes or books." Said Ginny, sitting on her trunk, which was a little less full than usual.

She and Harry were sitting in her bright little room on the top floor. "It's just like going on holiday."

"Yeah," said Harry, "do you think there's a lot of serious damage?"

"I don't think so, Voldemort and the death eaters were attacking us, no the building." She said.

"Maybe. But there were a couple of giants, they were smashing up loads of stuff." Harry said, thinking back to that fateful night. It was still fresh in his memory after only… what was it…a month now. It had all passed in a blur.

"I spose so." Said Ginny, as Ron burst into the room.

"Mum wants everyone downstairs. You need to get your trunk from my room, Harry. "Is there a floor powder link?" asked Ginny.

"Yeah. Mum said they could afford to be laxer about security with Voldemort gone." said Ron. "You know they've got a goblin to give us lessons in magical building techniques? It's going to be torture.

"Oh god" groaned Harry, moving out of Ginny's tiny room. He saw Mrs Weasly striding up the stairs.

"What are you three doing? Everyone else is ready!" Mrs Weasly called, looking slightly harassed.

"We're coming." Ginny shouted. "Get a move on, Harry."

Harry appeared on the landing, lugging his trunk, and they marched down the stairs.

"You know," said Harry, "after this year, there'll be no more Weaslys at Hogwarts."

"Oh yeah. I'd really like to say we went out with a bang, but this years looking to be a bit boring." Said Ron, as he plonked his trunk by the fireplace.

"Yeah. It's just our exams. Every other year something's always happened, I've always had a goal. It's weird with no Voldemort. It feels like a part of me is gone."

Mrs Weasly looked anxious.

"Er, are we ready then?" she looked at Ginny, Harry and Ron. "Good luck. I hope they don't work you too hard. You need a rest before going back to school. Well, see you in three weeks. Mr and Mrs Weasly hugged them all and stood back from the fire place. First Ginny, and then Ron stepped in, shouting out their destinations.

"Goodbye." He said, and threw in the floo powder. As the flames changed their colour, he felt welling excitement. After a over twelve months, he was finally going home, for what he supposed was an 'eighth' year. He grinned, stepped into the fire, and shouted "Hogwarts!"


	2. Chapter 2: Hogwarts

Harry felt the familiar rushing sensation as he rocketed through several chimneys and then crashed onto a small mat that had been set up for travellers. He was in McGonagall's office.

"Move along Potter, more people coming soon." She said, without looking up from some marking. Harry hurried off the matt and was walking out of the door as he heard the newest arrival fly out of the fireplace. Harry looked around the corridor, searching for Weaslys.

He say Ron and Ginny talking to Neville.

"Neville!" said Harry, beaming "you've done your last year, what are you doing here?"

Neville shook his head.

"Naw Harry, half the seventh years came back. Last year there were no exams, teaching was pretty terrible and a lot of people ended up hiding in the Room of Requirement for months. Loads of people are coming back! Even the Slytherins."

"Yeah." Said Ron, "Neville says they'll let us sleep in the room of requirement."

"That's great!" said Harry.

"Come on you guys, everyone's going to the great hall." Said Ginny. Harry looked. The corridor that was crowded a few minutes ago was nearly empty.

"Where's Hermione?" Neville asked, as they walked towards the great hall.

"On holiday," said Ron, looking glum. "she'll be back in two days. I asked McGonagall where she was, but she said considering what she went through, it was okay to have a break.

Harry noticed a huge scorch mark to his left. A few paces on he saw a broken door.

"They haven't fixed this part, then?" he said.

"No. Apparently, all that's left to fix is a massive hole in one of the towers and all the corridors around here." Neville said.

"Oi, aren't these curse marks?" said Ron, touching a patch of burned tapestry, totally blackened.

"Yeah, must be." Said Harry, looking at the huge mark.

"Doesn't that mean magic won't work on them? We'll have to use muggle methods!"

"Oh no!" groaned Neville.

"I hadn't thought about that." Harry said.

"They must be curses or the teachers could have zapped them away in a second." Said Ginny.

"Well this is going to be boring. _And_ there's no Quiddich." moaned Ron.

"No tournament, maybe. That doesn't stop us!" Harry said, grinning. "We can still have some unofficial matches."

They had arrived at the great hall. Filch gestured for them to come in, leering horribly as they went past. No one appeared to be sitting at house tables anymore, except the Slytherins, so they just sat next to a few members of the DA.

Hagrid, Flitwick and Professor Sprout were standing at the front of the hall. After some latecomers had entered they stood up and the muted whispering was silenced.

"Welcome." piped Professor Flitwick. "I'll be detailing your work for the next three weeks, with the help of Professors Hagrid and Sprout, and a visitor, Grotnoch."

An ugly Goblin, quite unlike the slick, clean Gringotts guards raised a hand.

"As you'll probably know, the school sustained heavy damage in what is now known as the battle of Hogwarts earlier this year. But we need to resume teaching as fast as possible, so we called on you, students, for help rebuilding the castle. The first, second third and fourth years have already done their bit, and now it's your turn. You can sleep in your normal dormitories, except for the, er, eighth years, who will be using the room of requirement." He peered at Neville. "Could you be in charge of that, Neville?"

Neville went red. "Er, okay, professor." He said.

"Good, good. Professor Sprout, would you like to talk?"

Flitwick sat down and Professor Sprout took his place, still wearing dirty dragonskin gloves from tending some magical plants.

"We're using muggle methods to clean and," she was cut off by a mass groaning of the students in the great hall. "and," she continued firmly, "we are using crushed neptwort flowers to aid in scrubbing curse burns. Ground _prius pollus_ stems will fill in small holes." She sat down. Hagrid cleared his throat and stood up, towering above the previous speakers.

"I still need help caring for creatures that hurt during the battle. If yer want to help in that come an' see me. I'm always near ter me hut near the forest."

The final member of the trio, the goblin, prepared to make his speech.

"I'm grotnotch. Everyone needs to be in 'ere for nine o clock tomorrow. I'll give you a basic lifftin and building lesson, the you can go off and do the work." He finished abruptly and sat down.

"Well then," said Flitwick, "you can all be getting to your rooms. Remember, meals at all the usual times, if you have a problem, report to one of us, or Professor McGonagall. Good day."

Before people could start to get up and talk, he said "Oh yes. Eighth years, follow Neville please."

Puffing his chest out, Neville marched out of the hall and up the stairs to the seventh floor.

"It's just like old times." said Ginny as the crowd of Eighth years walked up the stairs.

"What do you mean?" Harry said.

"Well, most of last year we spent in the room, hiding from the Carrows."

"Of course." Harry thought back to when he returned to Hogwarts to find everyone in the room, waiting for him. "It's such an amazing place, isn't it? Hey, maybe we should have a DA reunion."

Ginny laughed.

"That'd be fun. But what would we do? I mean, we'll have proper lessons this year."

"I dunno, maybe talk about some at the stuff that happened. There's still a lot of stuff I haven't told anybody about."

"Do you think you're ready to talk?" said Ginny, starring at him.

"I'll have to think about it."

Suddenly Dean Thomas caught up with them, glancing at Ginny, then turning to Harry.

"Hi Harry." he said, "I was wondering, you know, Katie's left the team, so can I play chaser instead?"

Harry was slightly taken aback at this sudden request.

"Well, we'll have to do quiddich trials, and that's not until the year starts.

Dean looked slightly annoyed, as though he should just be given a free pass into the team, but he turned and walked off.

"You know," Ginny, how about an unofficial Quiddich league? We could get for multihouse teams together and play a few matches."

"That could be good." they stopped. The blank wall where the room apeared was in front of them.

"Okay," Neville shouted to the group, "as most of you know, this is the room of requirement. If you think about something and walk in the front of the room three times, you'll get it. The room changes into anything. To make a room as big as we need, it's gonna take a few people…er… how about all the DA."

Several people stepped forward, including Harry and Ginny. "And a few more." called Neville. The people at the very front stepped up. "Concentrate on the common rooms. Think about the four common rooms with dormitories. Right, let's all walk."

The chosen people started striding up and down past the wall. Harry thought of the old Gryfindor common room, and his dormitory, and also his vague reflections of the Ravenclaw and Slytherin rooms. He opened his eyes. On the wall was a small wooden door. Several people had gasped. Obviously a new door just materialising would be quite shocking. "Right." said Neville, "I'll open the door."

As he twisted the knob, water gushed out of the room and bowled over Neville. Several people jumped forwards and wrestled the door shut. Coughing water, Neville got up. "O though ob wata!" he said, water streaming out of his nose.

"Er." said a fifth year Ravenclaw, staring at the floor, "I thought it would be cool to have a swimming pool.

"Let's try again." Muttered Neville. They repeated the process and again the door materialised in the wall. Neville cautiously went up to it and peeked round. He grinned. "It's okay, you can come in." Harry queued up behind everyone, wondering what the room would look like. As he moved towards the door, his view was blocked by the jostling crowd. Finally he entered the little door.

"Wow!" he breathed. He had seen the room do some crazy things in his time, but this was beyond belief.


	3. Chapter 3: Portraits

The inside of the room was a huge pentagonal atrium, with one side taken up by each of the houses, and one for the front door. In the middle of the room there was a large statue of all four Hogwarts founders. Harry stared at the intricate founders and the huge vaulted ceiling, amazed at the room's power.

Harry wandered over to where Neville, Ron and Ginny were marvelling at the Gryffindor wall, covered in gold and red drapes. Then Harry saw something strange. There was a gaping hole where the fat lady usually was.

"There's no portrait." he said, looking at Neville.

"Yeah, we'll have to get them from somewhere else." Neville said, "And for the other houses. Well, except Slytherin."

Harry looked around the hall. Crowds of confused students were stood around empty portrait holes, although the Slytherin crowd had got their usual stone wall.

"Harry, can you go and get a teacher?" Neville said.

"Sure." Harry said, wondering what they could do. Get other portraits from around Hogwarts? Get new ones? If they did, where from? He pushed through the thronging crowd and got through the door. He set off down the corridor at a brisk pace. The school was nearly empty, everyone was unpacking.

Taking a few of shortcuts to save time, he approached the staffroom.

He knocked on the door and waited for it to open. He heard footsteps and then Professor Flitwick appeared, holding a cup of tea. He was surprised to find Harry standing there.

"What is it, Potter? Problem with the room?"

"Yes, sir. There aren't any portraits for the common rooms. Just holes."

Flitwick's face lit up, and he smiled.

"Ah, of course! I should have thought of that! Hmm, we'll have to ask around the Hogwarts portraits, or make some more, maybe. Thank you for telling me."

Harry stopped.

"Sir, what do you mean, make some more?"

Flitwick laughed.

"Ah, memories! That was my first job, you know, putting the charms on portraits. It's so expensive to rent them, so I only thought we could make some here in Hogwarts."

Harry suddenly thought of something that had been running through his head for a long time.

"You know how portraits are just like real people?" Flitwick looked bemused, as if he knew what Harry was going to say. "Well," Harry continued, "why don't friends or family get them for, well, dead people?"

Flitwick sighed. "If only it were that simple, Harry. But the magic concerning portraits is very complicated."

"How?" Harry pressed.

"Portraits of real humans can only use memories. They cannot think of new things. They can use past experiences in new situations, but true new thoughts are impossible. And their personality is dependent on the charmer's impression of them. You take a rather stereotypical view of them and put it into your charm. Widows who commission portraits of their husbands are often driven to depression by nearly having their lovers back, but not quite. Portrait magic is a very fine art. There are a quite a few books in the library all about it."

"I was just wondering..." Harry paused, "Dumbledore's portrait was in his study…"

Flitwick nodded.

"I understand. Dumbledore's portrait was made before his death, as are all headmaster's portraits. I would not suggest talking to it until you have fully recovered from his death. It could be damaging for you to approach it."

Harry nodded. He thought he could've had a shred of hope for a second, but it had just brought back memories of Dumbledore and the tower where he had fallen. He looked at the floor, embarrassed for asking.

"I'll see what I can do about the portraits. Good luck, Harry." Flitwick said, closing the staffroom door.

Good luck? What did that mean? Harry headed back to the room, head bursting with flitwick's talk about portraits. He wondered how late it was. He looked out onto the grounds. Evening… he decided to go straight to the Great Hall for dinner. No feast… that felt weird. He switched direction and entered the battle scarred corridors around the great hall. A trickle of people were heading for the hall with him. Only a handful of students were sitting beneath the enchanted ceiling. He spotted Luna, and went to sit with her.

"Oh, hello Harry!" she said, noticing him, "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Hey Luna." he said.

"I'm looking forward to learning about building tomorrow."

Harry thought about that goblin.

"Really?"

"Oh yes. I got this charm, look."

She held out a necklace made of a strange, ropey plant.

"What's that?" Harry said.

"It's ropeswort. It signifies wholeness and completion." Luna said, eager to explain.

Harry looked at the strange plant.

"Where'd you get that?"

"Daddy got loads of significant plants for an article in the Quibbler. He gave me this one because we'll be building."

"Ah. Okay." Harry said. He didn't much like Luna's father, the man who had sold them all to the death eaters.

"Hey, look, it's Neville and Ron. And Ginny." Luna said, sticking out a finger. Harry turned and saw them approaching, looking slightly angry. _Maybe I should have gone to them first?_ Harry thought.

"Where did you go, Harry?" said Ron, sitting down next to Harry, and looking at him accusingly. He caught sight of Luna. "Oh, hi Luna."

"Hello Ron." she said.

"Come on Harry, did you find a teacher?" Neville said.

"Oh, yeah. I told Professor Flitwick. He said he'd work on it."

"Good." Neville slumped into a seat, and Ginny followed. The hall was starting to fill up as it got nearer to when the food normally arrived

"Annoying without the feast, isn't it?" said Ron eyeing his empty plate.

"You're always thinking with your stomach, Ron." Ginny chided.

"Is it a crime to enjoy a good meal?" Ron protested. Ginny snorted, just as the food arrived from the house elves.

"Finally!" Ron said, and started pilling his plate with food. Harry dug in too, although it wasn't quite the huge leap from Dursley food, when you had been fed by Mrs Weasly all summer, especially without the usual feast. Harry watched Luna carefully arranging her potatoes.

"So Luna, this is your final year, isn't it? What are you planning on doing after Hogwarts? As a job, I mean."

She looked up at Harry, her eyes wide.

"Oh, I've thought about that. I thought I could help with the quibbler. I could go out and do research."

"Sounds good, Luna. I'd like to read some of your stuff." Harry thought of the kind of things Luna would write about and had to take and extra large gulp of steak to stop himself laughing.

"Thanks Harry!" Luna said, oblivious to Harry's choking. Harry managed to get the food down, and smiled

He was home at last.


	4. Chapter 4: Percy

After dinner, the eight years were slowly walking back to the room, feeling drowsy after their big meal.

"You know, Neville, I never thought _you _would be the one trusted with the password." Harry said, as Neville pushed open the door.

"Times change." said Neville, smiling. He stopped, staring at something in the room. Harry peered round his shoulder. Four of the ugliest, dirtiest trolls Harry had ever seen were sat in the middle of the room near to the statue, shouting about something.

"Naw, I Grifdor!" One of them was saying, spit trailing out of its mouth.

"You S…S…S… the S one!" another said, grabbing his huge club, which was just a tree trunk sawed into a vague stick shape.

"Oi, jus go and get a hole, boys!" growled the burliest troll. The others tramped off, and the big one took the remaining hole, which happened to be Gryfindor. Neville was dumbstruck.

"W…Who are you?" he said, taken aback.

"Fletchers emergency security trolls. Guarantied one hour delivery time. Affordable rates." the big troll recited.

"Fletcher?" said Harry, "_Mundungus_ Fletcher?"

"Dunno the details." said the troll, looking worried. "Jus doin me job."

"The schools must be pretty desperate, buying from Mundungus." Harry muttered to Ron.

"The sooner they get portraits the better." said Ron, eyeing a troll rhythmically banging a huge stick on the ground.

A determined expression on his face, Neville started to enter the common room.

"Oi!" said the Gryfindor troll. "Was the password?"

"Tantacular." Said Neville.

The troll shoved his face up to Nevilles.

"You sure about dat?"

"Y…Yes." Neville said.

Without a word, the troll slumped to the floor. Cautiously, Neville stepped past him and climbed into the Common Room. Harry approached the common room, expecting the troll to ask for the password, but it didn't move. He climbed after Neville, hearing more people moving behind him.

The common room was just like the old one, except the armchairs seemed a little bigger and plusher than he remembered. He grinned at Neville.

"This is great!"

Neville slumped into chair.

"Yeah." He said. Harry took his favourite place by the fire, and watched the other Gryfindors filling into the room.

"Even with everyone in here, it's not that full." mused Harry.

"Well, there's only two years, isn't there?" Neville said. Harry slumped further into his chair.

"Ugh, we've got to get up early tomorrow." he said.

"Why? Oh yeah, that goblin." said Neville. "I'm not too bothered to be honest."

Ron pushed his way towards them.

"Listen, first chance we get, let's go down and help Hagrid. I'm not gonna work like a muggle!" Ron said.

"Good idea." Harry said, thinking seeing Hagrid would be a good alternative to scrubbing stained corridors.

"You can't, Ron prefects are supposed to supervise the building." Neville said.

"What?" Ron shouted, collapsing into a seat. "That's just unfair! Hey," he said, twisting round to watch Neville. "Why don't we swap? You can be prefect!"

Neville started.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." said Ron.

"Okay. I'll do it!" said Neville happily.

"Yes!" said Ron. "Cheers Neville."

He yawned. "I'm off to bed.

"Me too." Harry said, and followed Ron up to the dormitory. "Night." he called to Neville, who was still grinning about his promotion to prefect. Neville nodded at him.

Harry climbed the stairs and looked at his new dormitory.

"Is it just me," said Ron, "or have the beds got bigger?"

Harry studied the beds. They _were _larger, and it looked like they had more pillows and padding as well.

"They are!" Harry laughed, and went over to his trunk to start unpacking.

"Jesus. We already have four posters, and someone thinks we need bigger ones." said Ron, sitting on his enlarged bed.

"That would be me." said Seamus, coming up the stairs and grinning as he saw the huge beds. "I actually imagined these massive thirty foot ones, but it looks like you guys balanced it out."

Ron grinned

"You idiot, Seamus!" he said.

"Hey, it worked! It was a great idea."

Ron surveyed his new bed.

"You know, I might agree with you there." he said, and lay down.

"Where's Dean?" Harry said, getting his night things out of the trunk.

"Just talking to some people in the corridors," Seamus said. "I'm tired as hell so I came up here to get some sleep."

Harry clambered into bed in his pyjamas, finding it a lot plusher then he was used to.

"Cheers for the bed Seamus." Harry said.

"It's fine, it's fine, no need to thank me." said Seamus, taking a mock bow.

"Turn the light off." muttered Ron sleepily. Seamus obliged and they were plunged into darkness. It didn't take long for Harry, stuffed with food and tired out form the events of the day, to drop off to sleep, thinking about trolls and goblins and Dumbledore's portrait.

Harry woke to find light streaming in through the window. He put on his glasses and went over t look out on the view… the same view that was in their old dormitory!

"Oi, Ron, you've got to see this." he said, shaking Ron.

"Whaisit?" he mumbled.

"We've got exactly the same view as our old room." Harry said.

"Huh?" Ron said.

"Look out of the window!" said Harry, getting impatient. Ron stretched, and shuffled over to the glass.

"I don't see what's so…this is the same view as our old room!" he said suddenly.

"Cool, isn't it?" Harry said, smiling.

"This room can do anything!" Ron said, "Whoever charmed it must have known their stuff."

"Come on, we've got an early start today." Harry said.

"Huh. I'm going to Hagrid's anyway, what use are building lessons?"

"_Everyone_ has to do it, Ron." Harry reminded him.

"I know, I know. Let's get down to breakfast." Ron said, resigned to his fate.

They walked out of the common room and into the Room's entrance hall. A security troll jerked awake as they passed and asked for the password.

"But we're going _out. _" said Ron. The troll raised its club menacingly.

"Tantacular." Harry said, quickly. The troll backed off.

"Honestly." said Ron. They continued towards the great hall, abusing Mundungus and his trolls as they went.

They walked through the huge doors into the already bustling hall. It looked like plenty of people had got up early like them.

Ron sat down and grabbed a piece of toast. Harry wondered weather he would get any post as he pulled up a chair.

"Hey, Ron, now we don't get the prophet, do you think we should order it? Find out what's going on in the world?"

Ron looked confused.

"Why?"

Harry shrugged. "I was used to getting it, I suppose."

"There's no point. Hermione will have it ordered already."

"Of course." Harry had forgotten about Hermione.

"When's she coming back?" he said.

"Tomorrow." moaned Ron, like he wished he could say today.

Harry smiled.

"Must be pretty annoying, when you just start going out with someone, they go on a huge holiday." He said.

"Too right." Ron said, head in hands. An owl swooped down and landed in front of Ron. Harry looked at the tiny owl, hopping about in pleasure at delivering a letter. It was Pig. He was reminded with a pang of Hedwig, but forced the thought out of his head.

"Oi, Ron, you've got mail."

Harry tapped Ron's prone form.

"Uh…" he said, looking up, "Oh, Pig."

Ron took the parcel attached to pigs leg and let Pig help himself to Ron's toast.

Ron slipped open the letter. It was a newspaper clipping, and a note. Ron peered at the note.

"It's from mum!" he said, passing Harry the note and grabbing the cut out. Harry looked at the note.

'Dear Ron' It read 'I hope you're finding your stay at Hogwarts all right. I thought you might like to read this, it's from yesterday's prophet.' Harry peered over Ron's shoulder at the cut out. Noticing Harry's gaze, Ron moved the paper in between them so they could both read it.

Ministry Dodges Cauldron Crash!

Was the headline. Intrigued, Harry read on.

The ministry for Magic yesterday defied the world cauldron market in an amazing move. Just before yesterdays cauldron meltdown, the ministry sold off all of its cauldron stocks. It is now buying them up again at a cheap price.

Some experts have been predicting a crash for months, but one man found conclusive evidence and timed it perfectly: Percy Weasly, junior secretary to Elena Hogekins, head of the department of international wizarding co-operation. Mr Weasly only recently arrived at this post in the Shaklebolt reshuffle.

We spoke to Mr Weasly yesterday shortly after the ministry's revelation that they had sold off all their cauldron stock _before_ the cauldron crush.

"As I had already done work in this area, I was familiar with the market, and I saw at once that the Romanian potions trade was about to collapse. I simply gathered information and explained it to the trade minister."

But how did he work out the exact time of the crash?

"To get the time, I used Gauguin's economic neutrality principle to…"

Harry stopped reading and looked up at Ron, wide eyed. Ron smiled awkwardly.

"Well…Perce is making a big impact, isn't he?"

Harry nodded, still dumbstruck by the article.

"I never realised he was _that_ good." Harry said.

"Well, he _was_ head boy. I think he got all outsandings on his NEWTs. He was just too stuck on promotion, wasn't he? First he sucks up to a death eater boss, then he takes the undersecretary jog without thinking about _why_ he was chosen. Now his head's deflated a bit, I suppose he'll rise to the top." Ron said, glumly. "Wish I could get all outstandings." Ron added, a wistful expression on his face.

"I wonder when Percy'll go back to the burrow?" Harry said, thinking back to the holidays when Percy had knocked on the burrow door… Percy had already sent a letter to say he and George were going to stay at shell cottage, saying they both needed time to think. So it was a surprise to see him walking through the tiny garden, a nervous expression on his face.

Mr Weasley answered the door. (A/N: only just realised how Weasley's spelt. My bad.)

"P…Percy?" he said, dumbstruck.

Percy bit his lip.

"Hi…dad." He said, and they embraced. After a while they broke apart, and Mr Weasley, still looking awed, said,

"What brings you here, Perce?"

"Well, I just came, to… say sorry." He said, "To all of you." he added, looking at Harry, Ron and Ginny, who were stood in the hall, not saying anything.

"Where's M…Mum?" Percy said.

"She's in the kitchen." Mr Weasley said, scratching his head and looking Percy up and down.

"I'll go." said Ron, at once. He practically ran off to the kitchen. A few seconds late there was a shriek, and Mrs Weasley burst into the room. She slowed down.

"Perce?" she whispered.

"Mum…" he said, "I just came to say… I'm sorry. Really I am."

She ran up and hugged him, tears streaming down her face, and he began to cry too.

"It's been so long…" she blubbed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" Percy said, sobbing too now. Harry slipped away at this point, and left the Weasleys to it. Late they sat down and talked over a meal.

"Me and George are still at Bill and Fleur's cottage," Percy was saying, "We just need to get our heads together, you know?"

"How is George?" said Mr Weasley. They had barely seen George since the fall, and the times he had visited he was pale and stony.

"Still bad." Percy said. "Fred dieing, well, it just totally crushed him. He's letting David Jones run the Wizarding Wheezes now, he's an okay guy, but he lacks that spark, you know?"

Percy gulped, as though deciding something. "Why don't you come and visit us. You know, see Bill and fleur and little Teddy?"

"That'd be wonderful, Perce." Mrs Weasley said, eyes red and puffy from crying.

After more hugs and a few drinks, Percy disappeared into the night…but then something happened to drag Harry back to the present.

"Hey!" he said, "Hey Ron!"

Ron was studying the article as thought checking it was real. "There's something you should see." Harry said.

"What?" Ron said, turning. And then he saw her.

She looked drowsy with jetlag, and was perhaps a little bit more tanned than usual, but she still had the same bushy brown hair.

It was Hermione.


End file.
